Be My Valentine
by Claire Blanc
Summary: Based off: Runaways. In a past mission, Valentine's Day makes everything awkward for Sarah and Roy who are forced to play an engaged couple. Not only do they have to act love struck, but Sarah's gotta wear the ring and Roy's gotta step up and actually play the game. And adding parties, liquor, and money to the mission just makes things more complicated and tempting. (Holiday Extra)
1. February Seventh

**Chapter 1: February Seventh**

It was an easy mission, and I had known it from the start. Get in, gain trust, slaughter the enemy (not literally of course; Batman would've killed me if I did), and get out. Of course, I had had easier missions, like stalking a few folks who Canary thought were abusive parents or the time that I had to seduce some horny CEO into cancelling an order of high-tech explosives. But don't get me wrong. The new mission was a piece of cake. For me, anyway. Who knew anything about Roy's opinion, and honestly, who cared?

All mission's had their...horror's you might say. Like the whole stalking thing came with a trip to the police station, which awkwardly enough Roy had gotten me out of. And that seducing shit that I put up with: yeah, it wasn't pleasant to have that bastard's thick, gripping hands all over me. Even though I felt as if this was the easiest mission, mission being "disintegrating" the target, the horror was probably the worst thing I had had to have faked in my entire career. And believe me. That's a long timeline.

We had gotten our mission info on February seventh. A week before Valentine's Day. The cave was covered in décor. Pinks and Reds and weirdly-tinted glitter were stuck in practically every corner and socket of the mountain. Heart shaped cards and wreathes were near almost every door. And don't even get me started on the piles of food and candy M'gann had stacked in the kitchen. I swear you could've made a life-size replica of the dug-out mountain we were working in with all those sugar-filled snacks.

I had just gotten out of a briefing that consisted of not only part of the Leagues thoughts about my previous mission, but also the information concerning the new mission they were sending Roy and I on. Some asshole in a small neighborhood in upstate New York thought it was funny to create a nuclear bomb out of old kitchen utilities. And when that happens you just _have _to send two fucked up teenagers to retrieve it.

But that wasn't all the intel Batman had given us. Not only did the bastard create a dangerous weapon, but he threatened his wife and thirteen-year-old son just to keep his "little" invention under radar. And just for references, I had no clue how Batman, or the rest of the Justice League for that matter, got any of this information, since by the look of it, the wife and son weren't going to talk.

Aside from that, I was told that Roy and I were going undercover as a couple. An _engaged _couple. An engaged couple that just _bought a house. _An engaged couple that just bought a house in the same neighborhood as a _dangerous, physco, idiotic man who was having a mid-life crisis._

Engaged didn't just mean putting on smiles and walking around with a hint of lust in your eyes. It meant so much more according to Diana, whom I hadn't had very many chances of getting to know or meet. It meant that we'd both have to put all of our energy into appearances and actions. Since I was pulling off a twenty-two year old law student and Roy was pretending to be a twenty-four year old billionaire who just inherited his father's big-wig electronic merchandising company, we had to act on our best behavior, and we had to look like we were the most in-love, perfect, lust-worthy, and intelligent couple in the world. Which really made me nervous because Roy and I had nothing checked off on that list as enemies.

Roy being a "billionaire" as his alias, and us pretending to be engaged, Diana had borrowed a ring from her planet. Being that the Amazonians, or whatever the hell they were called, didn't do "men" or "marriages" they had some pretty damn expensive-looking rings. Shiny, silver base and a twenty-karat diamond - to say the least: a ring that I'd never trust myself to wear ever again.

Luckily Roy wasn't at the cave quite yet. He had gotten stuck in traffic and couldn't seem to find his way to the nearest zeta-tube, which gave me time to think of an alternative to playing "nice" with him. So far: not a single hint.

I walked into the kitchen to get hit with a strong scent of freshly baked cookies and cakes and sweets. I gagged.

"Oh my God. This is the one of the times that I wish the cave had windows. God! How much sugar have you gone through, M'gann?" Zatanna, looking more excited that ever, walked over to me with a plate of heart-shaped cookies. M'gann pulled out the fresh batch, which surprisingly wasn't as burnt as usual and smiled at me.

"Enough to make your head spin." Zatanna said, holding out the plate of cookies in hopes to tempt me. I shook my head and push the plate back a little which made Zatanna lower them and walk over to boys, Wally, Robin, Kaldur, and Conner, as they dug into the sugar-filled sweets.

"It's my first Valentine's Day. Last year nobody told me about the holiday, so this year I'm celebrating it." M'gann said, cutting some more dough into heart shapes.

"So you're basically celebrating Valentine's Day by giving us all diabetes? Nice. Well, in that case, does anyone want to go to lunch with me?" I asked, looking around the room. Wally's hand flew up and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"You grab your fanciest dress and I'll grab my tux and we can waltz all night long," Wally said, rushing to my side frantically as if I were about to be taken. I gawked at him.

"Yeah. For one, I'm too old for you. Two, in heels I'd be too tall for you. And three, I'm not interested in going on a date with a guy three years younger than me."

"She just told you!" I heard Artemis say as she walked into the room. Turning around I saw her smile slyly at Wally as he walked away clearly saddened. "I'll go to lunch with you. After all, I can't let Wally get away with ruining you're appetite when you actually have one."

"Sounds good. Anyone else want to go?" I looked around the room, not sure if I wanted more yes's or no's.

"I would, but I really need to help M'gann with these sweets. Because _someone _keeps eating them, we're running behind. We only have half of the amount that we need and I haven't even gotten started with the wrapping yet. And plus, there aren't many times that we have the opportunity to go to the Watch Tower, now is there?" Zatanna said, smiling aside with M'gann. I smiled back.

"Well then, I guess it's just you and me, huh, Artemis?"

"Yep. To-go and a non-awkward walk downtown?"

"Hell, yeah."

* * *

"So when's your mission?"

"Uh, our flight leaves at ten, so Roy and I will be leaving probably around seven-thirty. Gives us thirty minutes to drive and two hours to make our way through security and all that shit." I said. Artemis laughed.

"I wish I could say that I know that feeling, but honestly I haven't had much experience with planes and airports. What's your mission again? Some sort of kidnapping?" Artemis whispered the last part to me. I laughed and looked down at the ground and watched as the cracks in the concrete went by. I looked back up and glanced back at Artemis.

"Unfortunately not a kidnapping. Some idiotic bastard decided to make a nuke. Threatened his family when they found out. Supposedly going to use it to destroy the government. Either way I have to pretend to be engaged to Roy for about a week or even longer. To be honest, I never thought I'd find myself using the words "engaged," "to," and "Roy," in the same sentence."

"I totally hear you. Sometimes when I see you and Roy on missions, I think about Wally and I and how I'd react in your position. You seem to have life so hard, but you just breeze into it like nothing. You're like a role model for me."

I froze at the thought. Role model. No. That wasn't even close to what I wanted Artemis to become. I swallowed and looked at her.

"Artemis-"

"Yeah, I know, I know. Life is easy for you. I get it. You're awesome."

"No. That wasn't what I was going to say. I was going to say that you don't want to be like me. I'm eighteen years old and practically the whole world wants to either kill me or awkwardly hug me because of lies that have been put into their heads. And life is no where near easy. I have more enemies than the whole Justice League does _combined. _And I'm out here in the open, walking the streets like an innocent citizen. I don't breeze into anything either. I'm just a stuck up, cold-hearted bitch who can't show her true feelings no matter what's going on, on the outside. Don't look up to me. Just be yourself. For me, okay?"

"Okay, fine. You got me." We laughed. "But before I go back to being, you know, myself, wanna race back to the zeta tubes?"

"Oh. You're on."

* * *

I stood at the passenger side of car and looked over the dark blue Rolls-Royce Wraith. Roy's blue eyes just glared at me: a sign of putrid hatred. I smiled mockingly and Roy raised his brow.

"What?"

"Oh it's nothing. There's just something on your face."

"What? My appearance or my expressions?" I sighed.

"Neither. Just come here." He raised a brow. "God, you're so stubborn." He rolled he eyes and walked toward me and I smiled. The next thing he knew, my knuckles collided with his square jaw. He grunted.

"What the hell was that for!?" I laughed.

"That is what'll make you remember my hatred towards you."

"You little-"

"Uh, uh, uh." I said, wiggling my pointer finger. I smiled slyly. "You wouldn't hit your fiancé, now would you."

Roy shut up and I smiled, getting into the car and waiting for Roy. He slammed the door shut once he got in the driver's seat and sighed, turning on the engine.

"Nothing can be more hellish than this situation, can it?" It wasn't a question, but I just smiled. After all, if there was one thing that I loved to do, it was torture Roy mentally.

* * *

"If you cut yourself on your hairline again, like you did the last time we were at an airport, I swear I'll murder someone." Roy said as we sat down at the gate. Looking at my watch I saw that it was nearly nine o'clock. We had a little less than an hour before we were supposed to board and I had no clue what I would do while I was waiting.

"You should be thanking God right now that no one's close enough to hear you say that. The last thing we need is for you to get dragged off and padded town by TSA." I said, staring at my phone screen as I looked up the house that we were "buying."

"And I thought you weren't the religious one."

"I'm not. It's just a figure of speech." I clicked on a photo album and leaned toward Roy, showing him the pictures. "Look at this."

"What is it?"

"The house that we're supposedly buying. Thirty-six million dollars and it's still considered a house. You'd think that thirteen bedrooms, three kitchens, an indoor and outdoor spa and pool, and a personal bar would give it the title of 'mansion.' "

"Holy shit. Oliver's house is smaller than this. What the hell is with them? Buying a house that costs that much."

"Well first of all it's across the street from you-know-who. Second, you're supposed to be playing a billionaire, that's why, you know, we have first-class tickets. Third, I'm supposed to be a law student and when you add our invisible wages together you get more money that what it took to build the Empire State Building."

"Yeah, but why us. I mean the League has so many other people who could go undercover. And they're probably even better at this undercover billionaire shit."

"That, I don't know, so I can't exactly answer those questions, but whatever they're reasons are they better be damn good because I haven't exactly slaughtered anyone verbally for a while. Not even you, surprisingly."

"I'll take that as a compliment, dear." Roy said with a mocking smile.

"Only for you, darling."

I had to admit that we were getting pretty damn good at this exaggerated love stuff. And honestly, and sinfully, I might add, I actually found it fun. Which I wouldn't admit to Roy or anyone else for that matter. Over my dead body.

* * *

"Here you go, Miss." A young, male flight attendant said, setting down a cup of coffee in front of me. He smiled calmly.

"Thank you." Roy laughed as he walked away. I glared at him. "What?" I asked.

"I don't understand how you are so naïve when it comes to seeing the lust in other people's eyes."

"Well, I don't understand that with all this money flying out of your pockets you don't have the decency to buy a private jet. I mean, I'm not complaining or anything but I'm so not liking this whole presence thing we've got going on with our fellow first classers."

Roy just stared at me, dumbstruck at my comment. I laughed.

"God, why don't you stop being such a dick and lighten up a bit? If you don't start acting like you know something about you're position in society, then you're going to have more problems this week than just living with a stuck up bitch with a bad attitude and bunch of money flying out of her purse."

"I'll lighten up once I figure out how to get away from you."

"Good luck with that, 'cause it's not like you can just leave the house without the whole neighborhood seeing or go to a bar and have sex with some random bitch without people talkin'. There's eyes and ears all around the city. And once we end up in town, they'll sure as hell be coming to me with a little gossip. Since you know, that what rich women do when they have no life beyond pleasing their husband."

"Somehow I feel very disturbed by that comment."

"Oh don't worry. I don't exactly qualify in the 'pleasing' part."


	2. February Eighth

**Chapter 2: February Eighth**

It had been two in the morning when the plane landed and almost four when we actually made it to the house, or mansion as I liked to call it. Dropping my bags at the end of the long hallway, which had begun at the door and ended at a three-way tunnel-like structure, I stared at the rooms. To my left there was a dining room, a huge table and beautiful flowers, plates and porcelain teacups in a cabinet, wine in another, and soft, draped, light curtains. A door at the back of it lead to the kitchen, which contained up-to-date kitchen utilities, spotted counter granite, and dark wood cabinets. And not to mention a mini bar across the room. To my right there was a foyer. Same kind of colors, you know, the beiges and the browns and the bright splashes of a dark red. A loveseat and two chairs, curtains, a coffee table, and extravagant paintings that matched the décor. Straight ahead of me, behind double doors was the living room. Plush Couches, glass doors to the backyard, side tables with fresh roses and extravagant décor, including ancient Greek pottery, which astounded me. On the left side of the room was a staircase with a dark, iron-bared stairwell, which led to the second story. The second story contained most of the rooms and bathrooms and such, and of course the bar. On the right side of the living room there was a small hallway, leading to a few doors. One being the indoor spa and pool, another being the laundry room, one being a door to the garage, and another being a gym.

I walked back to the living room to see my bags gone and practically freaked. "Where the hell are my bags!" I almost screamed.

"God, calm down. I just took them to your room, since you know, you were a little busy exploring the place." I was silent, not knowing what to say. "Have you seen the basement yet?"

"No. And I'm a little tired to walk up and down yet another staircase." Roy rolled his eyes and I followed him upstairs as he pointed me to the room he had chosen for me.

"I'm just across the hall if you need anything." He said.

"Why the hell would I need anything from you?"

"Well, you know, you might end up screaming in the middle of the night and I might have to save your ass from some smart ass murderer."

"Roy. It's the middle of the night. Does it look like I'm screaming?"

"Who knows. You might be screaming on the inside for me." He smiled and leaned against the door frame.

"Yeah. In your dreams, deary."

"Now you sound like a grandmother."

"Better than a lover, right?"

"Usually I'd say 'hell no,' but I totally agree with that statement."

"Well good, because I'm going to go take a shower and I don't want to see you in my bedroom when I get out."

"Why? Do you sleep naked?"

"No. I just don't want to exactly drag my suitcase all the way into the bathroom or dig through the bottomless pit of mine to find something that isn't tight as hell or what I like to call a killer lawyer look."

"I'll keep that in mind." I shut my door and rolled my eyes as I pulled out a random pair of lacy black underwear and a matching bra. I wasn't too into what people thought to be lingerie or undergarments, but either way I couldn't stand them being mismatched.

I jumped into the shower with the shampoo and conditioner I had found in the cardboard box underneath the sink and washed. My eyes could barely stay open and I physically shook myself to stay awake. In little time I got out and slipped on the sparse garments. Opening the door that led back to the bedroom, I sighed.

"Seriously? Did you not understand what I said back there. You know the part where I said _I don't want to see you in my bedroom when I get out_?" Roy rolled his eyes.

"Oh no. I understood perfectly, but I just forgot to tell you something. And you being dressed is always a plus."

"You call this dressed? Oh wait. Is this seriously how you're going to try to prove to me that you've slept with more than one woman? Wow. And I thought I was doing a horrible job of trying to prove to you that I can drop a bitch."

"Sex and murder is not something you should brag about, Sarah."

"Hey! I'm all in that murder section. Sex is you're kind of thing to share."

"Whatever. I came here to tell you that..." Roy stopped and suddenly looked at me with slow up and down motions. I rolled my eyes.

"What? I thought you just said that you've seen women naked before. Why the hell are you staring at me like that."

"Uh, it's just that most of the women I've...seen like this before haven't exactly had a belly button ring in the shape of a snake."

"So you're basically comparing me to the list of _extended _women you say, that you've had sex with. God, you're pathedic in the conversation category. You ain't getting a wife for a long time..."

"Thanks. Really appreciate the coldness of your heart."

"Oh. Actually my hearts pretty heated. It's usually around 98.6 degrees. But that might just be because the surrounding tissue has to stay at a certain temperature to keep working. Or I'm just completely wrong and I know nothing about the human body with exception to major arteries and blood vessels."

"Of course. Because of the whole murder thing, I suppose. Can I get back to what I was going to tell you in the first place."

"Sure. If you're okay with keeping your eyes on my face instead of everything else that's going on below it."

"I can manage my eyes pretty damn well, thank you. But anyway, what I was going to say was that we only have one liable witness of Calare's nuclear bomb."

"What do you mean? Aren't there two? His wife and his son?"

"His wife is now the only living witness. It's confirmed that his son, Jax, committed suicide last night." I felt a lump in my throat form. Suicide. It was an ugly word. I shivered a little bit and felt myself cringe at the thought. I made myself look like I was fine with it all, but in reality, I wasn't.

"Then we better get to bed, because I have a shit load of things to plan tomorrow." Roy was a little quiet and I decided to walk to the bed and slip under the comforter. The only light that was on was the lamp beside me and I felt like all the light was on me. It didn't seem awkward though, which confused me, but I still went with it.

"Yeah. You're also going to need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. We have nothing in the refrigerator, and League didn't leave us anything edible."

"Why the hell can't you go shopping?"

"Why the hell can't you?"

"Because I actually have things to do."

"And you think that I don't have things to do?"

"It's also because you're being totally sexist."

"Just go shopping."

"Just go to hell."

"Fine. I'll go. God help me."

"Good."

"Good."

"See you in the morning."

"Goodnight."

I wanted to laugh, but then I thought back to Jax. Suicide? What a horrible way to die. I swallowed and put him in the back of my mind and focused on the mission. My eyes grew gloomy and I soon fell into a relaxed rest.

* * *

I poured the coffee into my mug and sat down at the counter, watching intensely as Roy made breakfast: eggs benedict and toast.

"I cannot believe I'm cooking for you." Roy said, turning around and handing me my plate. I smiled.

"I know. It's lovely isn't it?" I said, mockingly.

"Why the hell _am _I cooking for you again? We're not truly engaged and I hate you."

"Uh, you're cooking because if you don't, I'll break off this future, non-realistic wedding."

"And why would you do that? The whole point is to get the Calare family to trust us. And being engaged makes it a whole hell of a lot easier."

"But if I broke off the wedding, I could cry on Kathryn's shoulder and make her trust me."

"So let's break off the wedding."

"Are you kidding me? Even if we broke off the wedding later, you know, after we got to know the Calare's, you'd still not be able to get them to trust you. For one, you a male billionaire, and therefore stuck up and bitchy, and two Kathryn's the type that would never give up on a broken soul, even if that meant fighting with her husband, who intentionally threatened her life because of a stupid nuclear bomb he created."

"You just think of everything don't you?"

"Well, you have to when you're wearing these kind of clothes." I pointed down at my long, wide-legged crème colored pants and suit jacket. Even with my hideous and slightly immature taste in clothing, I found that the loose, pink pastel tank underneath the crème suit jacket and the shiny, nude, four-inch heels I wore looked perfect for my position.

"Speaking of clothes, how do I look? Millionaire or billionaire." With what I could tell, Roy was wearing a suit. A dark blue one. With a white button up, dark blue belt, and patterned tie, which was also a dark blue mixed with lighter shades of the same hue. I blinked.

"Well, you look like you have money. And I'm sorta regretting telling you to...grow up slightly into this whole new persona."

"So I look rich, correct?"

"Yeah. Basically."

"Good. Because we need to leave in about thirty minutes."

"Why?"

"Dress and suit fitting. And the dress is for you. So eat."

"When you're doing a dress fitting, aren't you _not _supposed to eat?"

"Are you kidding me? With the amount of exercise you put in every morning, that food isn't going to do much to you're physical appearance."

* * *

The dress fitting had taken nearly six hours, and with all that time I spent in one place, trying on new dresses and having them altered to fit my supposedly tiny waist, I was pissed. It was seven o'clock when Roy and I got home that night. With all that time doing the fitting, we hadn't had time for lunch, so dinner was a must. And of course, Roy being what he liked to call a food specialist now, picked out an expensive and luxurious restaurant to eat at.

After getting "home" I decided to read a law book to try to get used to what I was pretending. Roy and I didn't exactly know how long we were staying in this luxurious Upstate New York mansion, but it was going to be at least a week, which meant that no body would know beforehand what these wives and female neighbors would bring up in their conversations.

The doorbell rang and Roy and I exchanged glances.

"Time to put on a show, I guess." Roy said. I put down my book and sighed, slipping my heels back on and walking to the door with Roy. Opening it, I immediately recognized Kathryn's slightly wrinkled face from the picture Batman had showed me. I smiled.

"Hi! I'm Kathryn! I live across the street."

"I'm Clayton." Roy said, shaking the woman's hand politely. "And this is my fiancé, Rhea."

"What?" I said, not able to stop myself from my sudden, but quiet, outburst. Roy smiled.

"Dear, you need to get to bed, you've been working way too hard." He turned back to the woman and laughed lightly. "Rhea's a huge workaholic. It's hard enough getting her away from the books and the articles and the papers, and not to mention away from work during the day just to go out to lunch. Thank God she has the rest of the week off. If only I can keep her away from those boxes in the office for a little while, isn't that right, honey?"

Roy embraced me slightly, his arm wrapped around my waist firmly. I knew I had to play the game, so I leaned my head on his shoulder and smiled loosely, my eyes fluttering a little to show my tiredness.

"Babe, you'll never have enough energy to keep me away from those books. When it's dark, maybe, but when that sun comes up, I'm gone." I smiled and looked up at Roy, or Clayton or whatever the hell his name was supposed to be. Roy looked at me with a smile on his lips. I felt his face move closer to mine, and I naturally closed my eyes as he kissed me lightly. He was gone and I opened my eyes to see Kathryn smiling brightly.

"You are the cutest couple, might I tell you that. What do you do for a living again, dear?"

"I'm actually a law student at the moment. I've been traveling across the country for so long that I guess I don't know what it really means anymore to have a permanent home. But hopefully that'll change and I'll be able to get to know everyone around here a little better."

"Oh, don't worry. We've all been waiting for your arrival. We heard so little about you. You were such a mystery. And you still are, but anyway, unfortunately my husband was not able to make it over here to introduce himself, but this is from us to you. You're of legal age, correct?" Kathryn asked me, personally, as she held out a basket with a bottle of champagne and a bottle of red wine.

"Would you like to see my legal I.D.?" We all laughed and Roy and I thanked her, soon shutting the door afterwards.

"And I thought you were supposed to be older than me..." Roy said, smiling. I glared at him, tempted to just screw it all and flip him off for fun.

"That just means that when you're forty-five, and meeting your mid-life crisis, you'll be the one all wrinkly and ugly with no reasonable suitors lining up at your door. Now give me that." I snatched the bottle of red wine from the basket and picked up a wine glass from the kitchen, pouring the deep red alcohol-based drink into the cup. Roy reached for the bottle, but I got it before him. "Oh, hell no. This bitch is going to need the whole bottle because of that stupid, ignorant mistake that you just made."

I sat down in the foyer and sat on the couch, slipping off my heels once more and guzzling down what was left in my cup. I poured some more as Roy sat down next to me.

"Somehow, I didn't see you as the drinking type." I choked at his statement and laughed.

"You're fucking kidding me, right?" I laughed and Roy shook his head. "Uh, hello? Have you been paying attention to anything? Seriously, Roy. I have tattoos, piercings, and a trucker's mouth. I've done drugs, and just an FYI, I'm not a virgin. How the hell did you not affiliate any of that with alcohol?"

"Forget it." He said, snatching the glass away from me and chugging the rest of it down.

"What the hell?" I yelled slightly. Roy just stared at me.

"So, tell me. What was my stupid, ignorant mistake, again?"

"Seriously? You just took my alcohol, and you expect me to give you intel?"

"Tell me and I swear I won't drink any more."

"Why the hell would I tell you. Why the hell would I care if you drank...whatever?"

"Because you really don't want to play this game with me when I'm drunk. Believe me. I have witnesses across the country from my stupid teenage years."

"You're still a teenager."

"You are too." I glared at him slightly.

"Fine. Where the hell did you get the name Rhea? And when the hell did you decide that it would be my name?"

"Before we left I had made I.D. cards for Batman. I didn't know who they were for or what they were for, but Batman gave me orders and I followed them out, awkwardly enough. After I learned that they were for us and I didn't exactly tell you because I was embarrassed, I guess. I made up the names and I just felt a little...I don't know self-conscious about the names that I picked, but anyway..."

"Whatever. I'm still finishing this bottle off."

"Why? I just told you my reasons?"

"Why? Because I'm being forced to live with you. That's like hell itself. With of course the plus's of the house and the luxurious items, but it's still like hell."

"By the way, just thinking back, how many tattoos do you really have? I mean, I know about the whole dragon thing on you're back and the weird foreign writing on you're wrist, but what else is there?"

"Uh, I don't know exactly why I'm telling you this, but, let me think...I have Chinese letters on the right side of my waist. My right side, not yours. I have a Russian saying on my foot, a small skull behind my ear, and a decorative band around my thigh."

"Didn't see that one last night."

"Yeah, that's because you were looking at the higher sections, like most men do." I looked at the bottle and saw that it was empty. "Holy shit, I went through that fast." My subconscious mind knew that I was drunk, but it also knew that my hangover wasn't going to be anywhere near painful.

"Yeah, you did. And I though I was the one getting drunk tonight." I was kind of out of it as Roy picked me up and carried me to my room.

"Did you know that alcohol is actually a depressant?" I started mumbling. I had read a book about alcohol during trials and learned a lot, which evidentially had taken over my mind. "It's funny really, that alcohol is a depressant, but so many people drink it to feel better about themselves or to numb the pain. It just makes them more depressed. Why the hell are humans so complicated. We're insane and idiotic, and crazy, and how the hell am I the only person on this planet who understands the difference between lust and love!" I blurted out. I wasn't sure what happened after that, but Roy got me to bed and I fell asleep, luckily alone.


	3. February Ninth

**Chapter 3: February Ninth**

I had gotten up around three in the morning, my body telling me that there was no way in hell that I'd get back to sleep. Drinking hadn't exactly been my best choice when I knew that I needed to get some sleep. Getting dressed in a randomly picked, black pencil skirt and crème blouse, I slipped on some black heels and walked downstairs. I didn't bother making any coffee since I was fully awake and all, and I decided to get out of the house and go somewhere...else.

Sliding into the driver's seat of a new Cadillac, I drove myself to the nearest mall, which was nearly an hour away. I wasn't big into going to the mall all the time, and I sure as hell wasn't anywhere near the kind of girl who had a bunch of shopping bags hanging from her arms, but a little luxury didn't hurt anyone. Especially when I was supposed to endure living under the same roof as Roy _and _pretend to be engaged to him. And plus, I only had enough clothes to last me through the week and I really didn't feel like wearing them over and over again after that.

It was nearly five in the morning when I got there. With the time spent driving and the time I had used to make myself look actually legit and presentable, I had arrived just as the doors began to open. I spent about fifteen minutes just walking through the almost empty, lightly tinted halls, watching as late staff opened their stores. That's when I walked into a candle shop.

I didn't know why I walked in, but I just did. I searched and seized a few extravagant and decorative candles for the dining room in hopes to...lighten the place up a bit. I mean, after all, I was going to be living there for a week or more, and it wasn't exactly _my _credit care. My being Sarah's.

Wrapping up the candles and handing me my card back, the young woman at the counter smiled and bid ado, awkwardly enough. That's when I was called out.

"Rhea! Rhea!" I heard a high-pitched voice call out, I turned and saw none other than Kathryn and a bunch of what I thought to be her friends. I put on a smile and walked over to her and she embraced me in a tight hug. "What are you doing here? All alone I might add?"

"Oh, I was just doing a little shopping to pass the time. The house is so dreary and I just...can't stand the look of it." It was a total lie. And I knew that. But Kathryn and the rest of her gang seemed to buy it.

"Well, Lilac here's doing the same thing." Kathryn said, motioning to a small-boned, young-looking Asian girl. Her dark hair was highlighted and her outfit, a loose-fitting skirt and button up blouse, seemed to make her look older. "Maybe you two could help each other. Lilac's good at couch-shopping and you're probably good at everything else by the look of it."

"Oh, no..." I said with a smile. I held up the bag that contained the candles. "I'm only good at candle shopping." We all laughed and I felt even more confused. What was so funny? Seriously, I was only half-good at candle shopping. "Anyway, I guess Lilac, you could help me with couches. I've been dying to replace the ugly thing lying in my living room."

"Okay. Let's get going." She said brightly, with a smile glued to her face. I sighed. God help me...

* * *

"So, you live in the neighborhood?" I asked, walking down an isle of wicked chairs. Lilac, who was in front of me, nodded slightly.

"Uh, yeah. I live three houses to your right. I've lived there for almost eight years now. If you can believe it."

"Wow. So do you live with..."

"My husband. He's an Italian surgeon."

"Oh, where did you guys meet?"

"Uh, I ended up studying abroad for a year in Italy. I was getting my major in anthropology. At the time I was undergoing some physical problems with heart and lungs. They just couldn't seem to fit in what small of a chest cavity I had. And then one day it all went to hell. My heart was way too rapid and I ended up having a heart attack. Spent forever it seemed like in the back of an ambulance and worrying about a stupid credit bill. Then I was operated on. Antonio was there and helped with everything. He was such a gentleman paying the bills and all that and I vowed that I'd repay him someday. After that he became like my foreign doctor. I'd go there almost every week, we'd talk as he checked how I was doing. Then one day he asked me to dinner and it just sort of happened. Love."

"That's nice. The story, it's different. It's not cheesy like most of the love stories I've heard..."

"What about you? How did you meet your husband?"

_Oh, shit. Make something up quick!_

"Uh... I was twenty, excited as hell when the school recruited me out of the other ten thousand who qualified to watch a huge private trial in Miami. It was the second day and the defense attorney was sick and therefore absent. So my professor bargained my way to the attorney position. I had done my research and ended up winning the case. Clayton was...impressed and just asked me on a date. I denied at first, but damn Clara was pushy. Clara was one of my best friends in college."

"You say 'was.' What do you mean?"

"Uh, Clara committed suicide a few weeks after that. Evidently she had gone through some rough times and the professor wasn't exactly giving her an A for nothing."

"Oh, God...I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. It was a long time ago..."

"Hey, not to be pushy, but how 'bout this chair? You say you have an outdoor pool. This brand is by far the most trustworthy with wicked chairs. And it has probably the most extravagant and beautiful ones I might add."

"God, your right. Damn, your good. Remind me to drag you off every week and have you pick out some badass chairs for me." Lilac laughed at my statement.

"No. I think I'll be the one dragging you off every week for candle shopping. Damn, these are so my style. And these ones have the most beautiful fragrance ever." Lilac said, taking out a candle from her bag. I smiled.

"Just as long as you don't flirt with that phoneboy. God, he was trying to work. _And _your married!"

"We wives have to have something to do during the day. I mean husbands don't get off the computer themselves you know. You should see me at clubs. There's a lot more where that came from, dear."

"I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

"Where the hell have you been all day!?" Roy practically yelled. I rolled my eyes.

"Since when have we truly been married?" Roy glared at me. "God, calm down. I was just socializing. You know with the neighbors who sorta matter in this situation."

"You could've told me. Or left a note."

"What would be the fun in that? A plus, it was three in the morning and I wasn't exactly up for grabs if you know what I mean."

"Where the hell did you go, anyway? By the looks of it you've been gone for most of the day."

"It's noon. I spent less than six hours at the mall total. And all that time was dedicated to digging info out of a certain slim Asian."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that I got some pretty damn good information about the Calare family. Mostly information about their newly deceased son."

"So you're telling me that during a six hour window you were able to dig information out of an Asian by pretending to shop at the mall?"

"No. I actually did shop. A lot, actually. Kathryn was probably the most intense to shop with. She was not letting me leave the store unless I bough a whole bag full of lingerie."

"Good to know. Back to the information part..."

"Oh, yeah. Uh, Lilac, the Asian I was talking about, had sex with Kathryn's son."

"Wait. What?" Roy's eyes were huge and I sighed.

"I know. Talk about age difference. Jax had been going through some rough times, his father had just threatened him, his long-term girlfriend broke up with him, and the college that he wanted to get into denied his entrance. He was already on the brink of life when he came in contact with alcohol. He got drunk one night, left home and ended up at Lilac's house. At the time her husband was gone on a business trip in Nicaragua and she couldn't help but take advantage of him."

I stared at my cup of coffee blankly, not knowing what to think. The whole situation was a disaster. And I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel for Jax's end story.

"So let me get this straight. A thirty-nine year old woman, who's bored out of her mind and hasn't been sexually active for what? A month? Decides to take advantage of a drunk, depressed seventeen year old boy who's awkwardly her best friends' son?"

"Damn right."

"God. I'm really starting to think that this is one fucked up neighborhood."

"And I'm starting to believe that we're the only sane ones in a one mile radius."

"That's definitely a shocker seeing that we completely hate each other, but whenever we talk sex ends up being our main topic."

"Not my fault that you haven't had any in a while."

"God, sometimes I wish that I never came back to the god-damned team because of you."

"Why? Because you know that I can totally beat your ass in hand-to-hand combat?"

"No, because all you seem to be able to talk about is sex."

"Oh, hell no. You're the one that brings it up every damn time. I just sit back and relax and watch you try to change the subject."

"No, no, no. You were the one who just brought it up with your Lilac plus Jax inside a circle shit."

"Excuse me? That's true and personal information of Lilac's. She told me first hand. And a bunch of the other girls in their little gang confirmed it!"

"How do you know that it wasn't just all made up?"

"Because! I just do! Will you stop for God's sake!"

"Why should I?" I growled at Roy's smart ass question.

"I could punch you right now."

"Why don't you try?"

"Because if I do, I don't know if I could stop. And plus, we don't exactly need a bruise on your pretty little face or rumors going around saying that I'm an abusive spouse."

"You think my face is pretty?" Roy cocked his head and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't think so highly of yourself. It was only a figure of speech. And an exaggeration."

* * *

I had fallen asleep around three in the afternoon, precisely two hours after reading a book about court appeals. It was boring as hell, but I had learned a lot about what I was supposed to be acting as. I knew that I wasn't going to have my alias for very long, but I felt like it was good research for the future too. Learning about trials and courts and prison and jail. It...awkwardly fit into my life.

"Hey! Wake up!" Roy snapped me out of what I thought to be a sleeping phase and I jolted up, eyes wide, looking at Roy's smirking face. With the book in hand I hit Roy in the torso. It was a playful hit, not too hard, but not too soft, but I was pretty damn pissed at him for startling me in my moment of weakness.

"Scared much?" He asked, recovering slightly from the impact of the heavy book. I sighed.

"You wish." I said, slightly smiling. "What do you want?"

"Who says that I want something?"

"You yelled at me while I was sleeping. I'd say that that isn't exactly normal. Even for you."

"Fine. You're rapist friend called and said that she wanted to get together. Dinner tonight. You and me, her and her husband. Fancy restaurant. They're paying."

"Oh God..." I groaned as I laid back down on the couch. "What time?"

"Seven. You have about an hour to get dressed and do whatever the hell you do to get ready before we need to leave."

"Uh...I hate you..."

"Yeah, well I hate you too. And right now I feel more like a father than a fiancé, so get your ass up, _dear._"

"I swear I'm going to kill you someday."

"No you won't."

"Yes I will."

"No you won't."

"Yes I will."

"No, you won't because you know the consequences."

"Damn, when did you become an expert on the other side?"

"When I met the true you."

"Makes sense."

"Yeah, now get dressed, we have a dinner party to survive through."

* * *

"I hate this dress." That was the first thing I said when I met Roy in the car nearly an hour after he had woken me up from my peaceful rest. Roy's eyes scanned up and down, his eyes awkwardly tracing my body.

"You look good."

"Oh, is that a _compliment_ I just heard? Oh my God..." I smiled and Roy rolled his eyes.

"How is it that every time I say something nice, you turn it into something else?"

"What do you mean? I was just shocked that you complimented me."

"I complimented your outfit."

"Yeah, right. Tell that to the judge."

"Please say that you aren't actually hiring a judge for this."

"Damn, you took my idea!" I laughed. "No, I didn't get a judge for this. I'm not that insane and I wouldn't exactly risk my life and career to beat you in a stupid word game."

"It's not a stupid word game, it's our relationship."

"What relationship?"

"Exactly."

"That makes no sense at all."

"When has anything made sense to you?"

"That's my line."

"Not now it isn't."

"God, I hate you."

"Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment."

"Well then scratch that. I don't hate you. I love you."

"What?"

"I love you Clayton. Let's get married tomorrow."

"God, you're pathetic."

"Um, excuse me, but I'm the one who broke the ice with the rapist. And surprisingly I feel comfortable with it..."

"That's because you two have a lot in common."

"Yeah because I _totally _raped a guy twenty-two years younger than me. By the way, if you didn't already notice, that's completely impossible."

"No, I mean that you're both complete bitches. From what I heard about that Asian chick and the way that she spoke to me on the phone, I could've sworn that she was trying to seduce me verbally."

"Hm. Interesting. Well, that gives me another reason to break up with you. If only we were married I could divorce you. There'd be so much more enjoyable drama in a divorce than in a break up."

"You just love attempting to torture me, don't you."

"Oh, I don't attempt. I do."

* * *

"So what do you do for a living, Clayton?" Antonio asked Roy right after we ordered.

"Uh, not much. I just own and manage my father's business. He passed away a few years ago, and I naturally took the reins."

"Oh, what business to you own?"

"Uh, I like to keep my information on the down low..."

"Oh, come on, you can tell us. You can trust us."

"Clayton's a little shy to admit it, but he actually just sold the business off before we moved. It was a fairly large business, but you wouldn't have heard of it. Underground Miami type business." I defended.

"Oh, that makes sense." Lilac commented.

"And you're a law student Lilac has said."

"Uh, yeah. Almost completed with my Masters."

"At twenty-two? Wow. Damn, you got one smart girl there on your hands Clayton." Antonio said, smiling brightly. Roy laughed.

"Yeah, well sometimes looks aren't everything, you know. I guess I'm just attracted to women who can beat me at a game of chess." I faked a smile at Roy's comment, but on the inside I seriously wanted to punch him. God. What a dick. If only these guys knew what he was really referring to.

The conversation stopped for a little bit as we ate and in nearly an hour we were finished with our meal and ready to leave the restaurant.

"Hey, uh, do you guys think you'll be free on Valentine's Day? I mean, I know you probably have some little plans in the morning or at night...but we're going to a horse derby in Kentucky and we just happen to have a few extra tickets. Kathryn's a little depressed to go and her son isn't exactly...here anymore, so would you like to go?"

I looked at Roy as he looked at me. Swallowing I glanced back at Lilac. "Uh, we'll just have to see. We haven't exactly written down our plans in stone for Valentine's Day, but we'll check our schedule."

And with that we said our goodbyes. Roy and I were more relieved than ever when we got into the car.

"There's no way in hell that we're going to that derby." Roy stated.

"Yes there is. We have to go."

"Sarah, you can't be serious. We have a job to do here."

"I know, but the Calare's aren't exactly going to be here in New York. They're going to the derby."

"Uh, Lilac just said that Kathryn's too upset to go and you know who isn't available."

"That's what she wants you to think. I hacked into her phone and found these text messages."

"You hacked into her phone? Who are you?"

"A bitch with a bad attitude and nothing to loose, but anyway, look at these messages, they aren't exactly normal."

"Holy shit. _I can't wait to see you in Kentucky. Make sure to wear your best lace. _What the hell is that supposed to mean."

"That means that Lilac's been a part of a strand of affairs and I think we just found out who the reigning queen is."

"Or reigning queens."


	4. February Tenth

**Chapter 4: February Tenth**

I woke up to a loud clashing sound from downstairs. Of course, I had no clue what it was and highly doubted that any of it had to do with Roy. The high-pitched wails and the shattering of glass made my body jolt up out of bed. Being that I was supposed to be "rich" and all, I had never gone downstairs or anywhere else for that matter (other than my bedroom) in what I was wearing. As usual: tank top and sweat pants.

Roy barged in right as I got to the door. I was glad that he hadn't hit me, but on the other end I kind of wished that I could've gotten a little more sleep. In a crazy, non-sane kind of way.

"Uh, Sarah, we have a problem..." Roy's worried eyes just meant hell to me. I forced myself not to shiver at terrible thoughts. Following Roy, we walked downstairs into the living room and boy did I hate what I saw.

The large chandelier, which had been hanging peacefully from the ceiling nearly minutes ago, was down. Cut. Dead. The diamonds reflecting the fake flames were shattered into millions of bits as it lay on the now broken glass table. Shards of glass and diamonds were everywhere. And that wasn't all. My heart practically stopped beating when I looked at the couch to my right

"Oh my God... Why the hell is there a baby in my living room?"

* * *

"What the hell do you mean I'm supposed to have a kid!? Clayton and Rhea aren't even married yet!" I screamed through the phone. I could practically see Dinah cringe on the other side of the line.

"Sarah, calm down. The story is that Clayton and Rhea had a kid six months ago, which led to Clayton selling his business and preparing for the child's future. It's legitimate and dare I say a last minute arrangement." Dinah said. I let out an angry breath and looked at Roy who was in the dining room with the strawberry blonde baby.

"How the hell is this going to work? I've already introduced myself to practically the whole neighborhood and I haven't said the word 'baby' once. What the hell am I going to say?"

"You'll say that you wanted to make everything perfect before you brought your perfect little baby home to her new house. And that she was staying at your mother's for the weekend."

"Oh my God... Dinah, I can't do this. I can't take care of an enfant when I'm supposed to be catching some dumb ass."

"Yes you can and you will. Look, I know this makes things more difficult but if Clayton and Rhea have a child then it may be easier for you and Roy to wipe out people one by one. I don't know the whats or the hows or the whys, but what I do know is that whatever Batman has planned, its big. And you two hold fate right now. The fate of the nation. So just do your job, okay? And if everything goes as planned your life will go back to the way it was before this mission. Okay?"

"Fine. But you owe me. Big time."

"Whatever makes you feel better." I imagined Dinah smiling weakly at my statement as she spoke.

"Goodbye." I ended the call and sighed, staring at the kitchen sink blankly. I couldn't help but pound my fist on the granite countertop to relieve some anger and stress.

"What did she say?" Roy asked, looking up at me as I entered the dining room.

"She said that Clayton and Rhea had the kid six months ago. Clayton sold his business so that he could help take care of her. We evidently had this need to make the house perfect before my mother had come into town and given us our daughter back. God, I never thought I'd say that." I swallowed. "The scary part is that the League did such a damn good job making this legit. I mean all the birth certificates, the ultra sound, the doctor visits. Hell, even the hair and eyes. They all check out. I mean, these ultra sounds, I just can't imagine who they actually belong to. "

"I don't get it. Why a baby? Why not a dog or a pet or something other than what's supposedly our DNA being mixed together." I froze. DNA. I looked at the child and took a deep breath.

"That thing better be some lost puppy the League found on the street because if it was grown in a test tube, someone's going down permanently." Roy swallowed and his eyes went wider than usual.

"I think I'm going to go use the phone right now. Don't be alarmed if I shout or anything." Roy said, handing me the little girl. I swallowed.

"Yeah, you go do that..."

* * *

It was one in the afternoon and Roy had just gotten back from the store. I heard the front door open and close and I sighed as I laid my head back on the couch pillow.

"Where the hell is Rose?" Roy said frantically dropping the grocery bags on the dining room table and running back into the foyer where I was lying down. I sighed.

"In the nursery. JL really wants this guy by the look of it. Everything's making more sense as time goes by. Sadly..."

"Well, I need to go feed her..."

"Already did."

"What? But you don't have..."

"Don't be stupid. You didn't look in the pantry before you left. Who knew that they might've left a whole week long supply of baby products stashed all around the house." I sat up and yawned. "What's going on with you? Seriously. One minute your pissed off at me because of some dumb ass derby I promised Lilac we'd go to, and now your being so damn overprotective of a baby that isn't even yours. What the hell?"

Roy's eyes swiftly moved away from mine as he searched for something else to look at. He was being quiet; too quiet.

"Are you seriously going to ignore me? At this point in the mission? God, you're so confusing..." I mumbled to myself. Roy laughed lightly and looked back at me with a facial expression I could only read as anger.

"You don't understand. You don't understand anything. This mission sure as hell isn't permanent, but it could surely take time to finish. For all we know, the few days we had planned might've turned into a few months or hell, even a few years. You can't just sit around and expect this all to be over in a week."

"So you're basically telling me that you don't have any hope that I can finish this damn mission in the few days we have left?"

"_We _can't finish the mission in a few days."

"Uh, no. Neither of those things are right. _I _am going to finish this mission in these next few days and you're going to just sit back and take care of that bastard child we supposedly have sleeping upstairs."

"What the hell are you doing?" Roy asked, watching me intently as I grabbed my blazer and slipped my heels back on. I sighed and looked at Roy one last time as I slung my purse onto my shoulder.

"I'm going to go attempt to seduce that bitch living across the street and hopefully clear up what little evidence we have on this so called case." I began walking to the door when Roy corrected my mistake.

"It's a mission!" He yelled from across the hall. I twisted the knob and opened the door slightly.

"Not anymore."

* * *

I had driven nearly sixty miles there and back before I parked back in the driveway. Making my way out of the car and crossing the empty street, I walked up to the front door of the Calare's house. I didn't exactly know what I was in for, especially when I knew that Mr. Calare, or Brian, hadn't been out of the house since Roy and I had arrived. I had my suspicions, but my curiosity struck a nerve when I wanted to know the truth.

The door opened and Kathryn's middle-aged wrinkled face appeared in front of me. Her eyes were red and watery: a sign of crying - most likely caused by the loss of her only biological child. Or her only child. She looked like hell with her hair pulled back into a loose bun and her usual expensive clothing items being replaced with a pair of baggy sweatpants and bright pink sweatshirt that had the word "PINK" written in bold, black letters.

"Oh, Rhea! You don't know how happy I am to see such a beautiful, youthful, familiar face. Come on in dear! Please!" She opened the door wider and led me into what I thought to be a foyer. It was larger than the one I had been occupying the past couple of days and it was sure as hell brighter. The colors were slightly intense: most of the furniture being black and the accents being a bright ass red.

Sitting down on a black and white word-based chair, I spoke. "I heard about your loss. I'm so sorry. I wanted to come over and wish you the best of luck for recovery and give you these."

I handed her a basket and smiled. The smile she gave me back was forced and I could clearly see the pain eating away at her soul through her eyes. Looking inside the basket she laughed.

"Vodka? Hm. You're an interesting girl."

"Well, even though I've only been able to legally drink for about a year and a half now, I know for a fact that wine doesn't numb the pain as much as the strong stuff."

"Wow. All the other women in the neighborhood just say to let it all out. No one's ever given me alcohol or an alternative way to deal with pain. It's new to me."

"Not all pain can be severed by mental therapy or supporters. Sometimes you just have to numb the pain for a little bit just to make it to the next level of recovery. It's not the best way to deal with it, but it'll definitely help. And plus, those women you were with at the mall, I don't think they can take much more of this. Seeing you fighting your inner demons while dealing with a significant loss. Take a break. You're not going to be missing much, believe me."

"And I suppose that the wine and the cheese and the sweets are just little extras you whipped up in the kitchen?"

"No. The wine is basically to get back at you. Since after all, I owe you a lot for your welcoming gift. God, I downed that bottle in no time. The cheese is for later. I mean, who doesn't like the classics? And the sweets are just for fun. I mean, I know how important body image is, but at this moment, I don't think anyone will judge you based on what you eat. I mean, after all, if you can't monitor or filter their ideas and opinions, you can at least make them feel sorry for your loss."

"Clayton's a lucky man. I mean to have such a smart and intelligent and understanding wife is something that men in this neighborhood thrive off of. He's lucky to have you. If only Brian would feel the same way about me..."

"What do you mean?"

"I really shouldn't be talking about it..."

"Come on. You can trust me."

"Well, it's just that Brian and I don't connect anymore. I mean we used to love to do things together. Cook, clean, work out, _play. _But then something changed. It was like a switch clicked off in his brain and he suddenly felt no more desire for me. He didn't cook with me or clean or work out. Hell, he barely came to the bedroom. All he did was stay in that damn office of his in the basement and do God knows what with all those mechanic pieces. He didn't talk to me or Jax anymore, didn't interact with us or have dinner with us. It was like I wasn't married and living alone with my teenage son. And when I found out that my best friend raped my own son, he didn't do anything. Just sat down there emotionless. And now Jax is dead and Brian's gone."

"Oh my God... where did he go?"

"I don't know. Left me a note two nights ago saying that he was done with me and was going to make me pay for my sins. If anyone should be paying for their sins it should be him. I mean it's not every night you find out that you're first love, the one you dedicated your life to and married, changed directions and slept with your neighbor out of boredom."

"I am so, so sorry, Kathryn. Oh God, I can't imagine how I'd survive through that hellish horror." I paused and sighed softly. "If you'd like, Clayton and I would be happy to have you stay with us. I mean living in this big of a house all alone with nothing but well, now alcohol, and a bunch of sad flowers isn't always the easiest."

"I couldn't. I mean you've just moved in and you're still getting settled and all. And plus, I am a total klutz in other people's presence."

"Don't worry about it. We're practically all settled in and you are not a klutz. Believe me. I see you and I imagine that you're a supermodel on a runway. It's breath taking how you're so confident with yourself."

"You really think so?"

"Hell, yeah."

"But I don't want to be a burden. I mean you and Clayton have the week off, you probably want to do a few things for Valentine's Day and what not. And plus, having another person in the house is kind of a pain around this time of year."

"Funny enough, we already have another person in the house. She's a little less than two feet tall, super adorable, and keeps our hormone's in check." Kathryn smiled.

"Oh my God... you...?"

"Yeah."

"How old is she?"

"Around nine months now. Clayton thought it would be best to keep her with my mother for a while before letting her into the new house. Precaution mostly, but also because we feel like her home should be something elegant and beautiful and something that she won't be ashamed of in a few years from now."

"Well then. If you don't mind I'll go pack up a few things and go see that beautiful daughter of yours. Since after all, with you and your husband's looks, she bound to be more adorable than ever."

* * *

"What the hell is she doing here?" Roy whispered to me hastily once I entered the door. Kathryn was already gone and in the living room making high-pitched noises as the baby laughed and squealed.

"I'm finishing this mission in the next few days with or without your consent of what I do. And the best way for me to find out the truth is to get that bitch drunk. And if I can't take her to a bar and I refuse to do anything in her God damned household, then the next best option would be for her and I to spend a little time together tonight. A little Vodka or Whiskey mixed in with her fancy ass wine will take me right to the pot of gold and we'll be out of here in no time."

"And how the hell do you expect her to believe you?"

"Clayton, our child is in the living room. Who wouldn't trust a twenty-two year old mother who almost has her master's degree in court of law, about to get married, and supposedly having sex with a billionaire who's about to be her husband? It's like a fairytale."

"Yeah, with the exception of all of it."

"Yes, but _she _doesn't know that."


	5. February Eleventh

**Chapter 5: February Eleventh**

I had been sitting down and drinking tea with Kathryn all morning. Technically, it had only been three hours since I had originally woke up and went downstairs for a cup of coffee. And that was when I found the bitch all teared up and hair high as she unleashingly bawled on my new living room couch.

Three hours later: no progress. My pleading and comforting abilities sucked, and I knew that, but this... this horror, just made me feel worse about myself, mostly about my so called skills that I used to have. Kathryn's fresh makeup was smeared, her mascara obviously not waterproof as they fell with her tears to the dark circles under her eyes. To be honest, I couldn't breathe anything but a sigh of relief once Roy came downstairs and stared at me behind Kathryn's back with an eyebrow up and the strawberry-blonde child in his arms.

"Uh..." I said, looking at Roy for help. He didn't budge and I mentally rolled my eyes. Of course, why in hell would he help me? Kathryn looked behind her, following my eyes to where Roy and... Abigail, who we had named on the spot the night before, stood. She smiled and wiped a few of her tears as she looked back at me.

"Don't worry about me. They say crying's healthy, so I'll be fine." She smiled weakly and I stood up, giving a warm, but fake, smile. My muscles relaxed as I walked with Roy to the kitchen.

"What the hell was with her?" Roy blurted out as soon as the door was shut. I sighed as I watched him put Abigail down in the high chair.

"Just for reference, I'm nowhere near as okay with this as you are, but befriending this damn son of a bitch is one of the easiest ways to find out whether she and Lilac have any physical connection. All we know is that Lilac raped Kathryn's son, who mysteriously committed suicide the first night we were here, and Kathryn's husband just left her with what I think to be that nuclear weapon Bats was talking about." My phone buzzed and I looked down at it, quickly reading the text message, but not exactly processing the words. "Oh, and now Lilac's husband is pissed and wants to get a fucking divorce... Wait, what?"

I looked down quickly, rereading the message over and over again until my brain caught onto the new information. "Oh, shit..." I muttered.

"Something's not right here..."

"No shit. She sent me a smiley face that doesn't even have a smile on it."

"Oh my God... You are so distracted today."

"Not really my fault. Still getting used to the fact that I'm living with my work enemy, a crazy bitch who married a lunatic who makes nuclear weapons to destroy the government, and a child that disturbingly looks like me, but is nowhere, in fact, related to me."

"I have to admit. That's a pretty good point."

"Yeah, whatever. Now, you go take the next shift and I'll take care of _our _child."

"_Our_ child?"

"Yeah, _Clayton. _Now get out there and take care of that sloppy girl on my couch while I take care of the thing I pushed out of my uterus six months ago."

Roy rolled his eyes and I laughed. We were definitely back to normal. If that was what you could call it.

* * *

"I cannot believe that you talked me into this." Roy said as I helped him pack the rest of his stuff up. Being that non-stop girl, which I had always been, I practically had everything packed, with the exception of a few things including my curling iron, makeup, and pajamas.

"Well, I can't believe that _I _talked you into this. I mean just living in the same house as you is a horror and now I have to go hundreds of miles with you and stay in the same room as you. God, if I don't end up killing you, I'll end up killing myself."

"I'm not a big fan of living in the same house or room as you either. But, you know, you can't seem to shut your mouth when a new opportunity comes along, so I think we'll just have to deal with it."

"Whatever. God, how many suits do you need. It's like raiding a mixture of Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen's closets. Holy Hell, I can't even imagine."

"I'm supposed to be a billionaire. I can't really pull that off with out a bunch of stupid ass fancy suits and one hot dry cleaner's chick. Damn, if only I wasn't married to a bitch like you."

"Lucky you then, because once Valentine's Day is over and I get what I want, we're getting a divorce."

"And what exactly do you want?"

"Your death certificate."

* * *

I sighed heavily as the door slammed shut and I fell onto the couch. Groaning, I heard Roy's heavy footsteps getting closer.

"Wow, what a day. Next time can you at least warn me a head of time so I don't have to dream about strangling you."

"I thought you liked those dreams." I said half-heartedly. Roy sighed.

"With the fact that you're living across the hall from me and that you don't lock your door at night, it's pretty hard to say that I enjoy those kinds of dreams in this situation."

"So your basically saying that you sleep walk."

"What? No. I didn't say that."

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Yeah you did, how else would you end up strangling me?"

"God, why do I even bother."

"I don't know. Why?" I just smiled at Roy as he took a deep breath. His face was tense as he stood up slowly and walked out of the room and to the kitchen.

* * *

"Why are you driving, again?" Roy asked from the passenger's seat of the dark blue car. Looking in the rearview mirror I smiled, taking a small glance at the redhead before setting my eyes back to the mirror and backing up out of the garage. I gripped the steering wheel and glanced in the backseat at the sleeping baby. Glancing back at Roy and answered.

"Because even if this relationship wasn't fake, and was truly my pathetic life, there'd be no chance in hell that I'd allow you of all people to keep your hands on the reins. And plus, this is the twenty-first century. It's not like women aren't doing things that men do all the time. I mean just look around. God, the things that has happened to this world..."

"I thought you weren't the one for all that cheesy shit. Especially that 'what's happened to this world' crap all the people in their twenties are talking about."

"I'm not. I just have my opinions about people from the opposite side of the tracks than me."

"Like me?"

"Exactly." Being out of the neighborhood I felt a little more relaxed about the whole faking being in love part. Since no one around really knew us being that we didn't live in that area, I felt like I didn't have to put on a smile for people who liked to star at you in your car. "Where are we going again?"

"Oh my God. You have got to be kidding me." Roy said, eyes wide. I laughed.

"I'm joking. I'm not that distracted today."

"Thank God."

"Shut up."

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"Did my wife just tell me to shut up? Oh my God, you are so verbally abusive." I laughed.

"Yeah, well you married me, so deal with me until I whisper to the press that we're getting a divorce."

"You wouldn't," Roy said dramatically. I smiled.

"It's going to get ugly."

* * *

"God, I hate airports." I said, finally sitting down at the gate with Abigail in my arms. I was relieved that I only had two things to carry from then to the time we got to Kentucky. One being the baby and two being my purse/baby bag. Let's just say that I didn't really have anything other than a credit card and ID to put in my purse. I was slightly jealous that Roy was only carrying a simple briefcase which I knew for a fact had nothing but camouflaged ear pieces and fake bills and receipts.

"I know. Just don't go to the restroom again and come back a bloody mess." I frowned.

"You're never going to let that down, are you?"

"Nope. Never. Not even after the day I die."

"You mean the day that I kill your miserable ass."

"You make it seem so much more fun than intended."

"Well, that's what I do. Make everything horrifying fun."

"There's no way in hell that this marriage would ever work out."

"No shit. When did you figure that out?" I asked sarcastically. Roy rolled his eyes.

"Looks like the plane is ready. Let's go." Standing up, Roy took my bag, leading me over to where we were supposed to be handing in our boarding passes. Walking onto the plane, I stopped at the fifth row, sitting down and putting Abigail on my lap. Roy sat down next to me and sighed.

"I swear, weren't we just here?" He asked. I laughed lightly.

"Yeah, we were. But this time we have a child with us."

"Okay, you saying that is probably the creepiest thing in the world. And I've seen things."

"Yeah, it's like my worst nightmare come to life. You and I being married and having a child. Real or fake, still my worst nightmare."

"Agreed."

* * *

"Holy Shit." I muttered as I entered what was supposed to be our hotel room. Opening the door there was a lounge area. Two Couches, a loveseat, and a chair. A flat screen T.V. was on the wall, one of the couches facing it and the other facing a painting. Branching off of the room was a hallway leading to what the director had changed into a nursery. Next door to it was the bedroom. The only bedroom. The kitchen and dining room were on the other side of the lounge.

"I'll take the couch." I said, setting my suitcase and bags down at the door. Roy laughed.

"Okay, I might be a total bastard when it comes to being nice to you, but I'm still a gentlemen. You're taking the bed and I'm taking the couch." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh my God! Don't even start with that gentlemen shit. I'm taking the couch. Get over it."

"Are you seriously going to fight with me about this."

"No, no, no. Are _you _going to fight with me about this? Seriously? God, why didn't I choose to be a lesbian?"

"Oh my God..." Roy mumbled right before someone knocked on the door. We froze.

"Rhea! Clayton! It's me, Lilac!" Roy looked back at me and my eyes were wide. What the hell was she doing here? At the hotel? At the door to our room?

"Oh shit." I whispered. Roy sighed and went to the door, unlocking it and opening it. Lilac stood there, dressed up with all her luggage. She gave me a smile that looked sorry. I freaked.

"Hey, you two. Look, I know this is... a late notice, but do you think that I could spend the night here? Antonio and I had a fight and he can't bear to sleep in the same room as me. Plus the two hotels I've been to so far are all booked. I guess that's what happens at the Kentucky Derby."

"Of course!" I said enthusiastically. The truth was that I hated the idea. That meant that she was going to sleep on the couch and I had to sleep with Roy. In the same bed. "Come on in! We don't have any extra beds, unfortunately, but you can take the couch!"

Lilac's eyes filled with relief as she walked in with her bags. Roy's eyes went wide and we mouthed to each other some explicit words. "Kathryn told me about Abigail. She said that she was the most beautiful baby in the world. No wonder. You two make the perfect couple."

I almost choked at the thought as she went on. "Oh and don't worry about tonight. I won't hear a thing. I always listen to my classic music when I go to bed. So don't feel restricted with my presence."

I froze. What. The. Hell.

"We just got here so Rhea and I are going to go unpack. See you in a little bit." Roy suddenly said, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me into the bedroom. My eyes were wide and I was frozen with not fear but more shock. And disgust.

"Oh my God. Kill me. Please. Just put me out of my misery right now." I said dead serious. Roy gave me an angry look.

"I would but I can't exactly get away with murder in this situation."

"Fine then. I'll go a find someone who can actually do the damn deed."

"Are you really that scared to sleep in the same bed as me?"

"I'm not scared. I'm just worried that I'll wake up and I'll be covered in your blood."

"So your afraid that you'll kill me."

"No. I know that I'll kill you."

"Why? Because you sleepwalk or dream about these things?"

"No, because I've been taught a lot of things and sleeping with a body next to me wasn't one of them."

"Oh my God... Well, you'll just have to deal with it because if you don't you'll screw up this whole mission." I swallowed my fear as Roy spoke.

"Fine. But if you do anything but sleep I swear to God I will kill you." Roy smiled.

"Sorry but you're not my type. Anything other than sleep is not an option."

"Same. Good, we agree on something."

"Yeah..."

* * *

It was ten o'clock and I was just now getting ready for bed. I watched myself in the mirror as I let my hair down and got dressed in my signature tank top and sweat pants. I stared at the simple necklace I was wearing and smiled. Not seeing Roy in the room, I sat down on the bed atop the covers and stretch, letting myself relax a little.

The door opened and Roy walked in wearing pajama pants and a white undershirt. He sighed and sat down on the other side of the bed, setting his alarm before looking at me.

"Abigail's asleep. Unfortunately Lilac's still awake so our fear is still not over." Roy said. I groaned in response.

"God, I can't believe she thought we were going to have sex." I muttered.

"Well, that is what actual and normal couples do."

"Yeah. I just hope that Lilac is actually listening to whatever shitty music she claims to listen to and that she's not expecting to hear something that isn't going to happen."

"We could always fake it." Roy said. I jolted up and stared at him, eyes wide.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" I whispered, not wanting Lilac, if she was listening to hear. "We are not pretending to have sex."

"Why not? It would secure our position."

"Oh my God. Stop talking."

"But it really could. I mean I'm okay with doing that for the mission."

"Oh my God. Don't you dare. You make a single sound, Roy, and I swear to God I will kill you."

"Sarah..." Roy whispered. "It's for the mission."

"We are not, and I repeat, we are not pretending to have sex. I will literally kill you."

"Fine, fine. But just remember, when this mission comes up as failed, you were the one who screwed it up."

"Roy, almost anyone decent enough to realize what your asking me to do would totally back me up."

"And why is that?"

"Imagine me saying this: 'Roy will you pretend to have sex with me?' Does that sound okay to you?"

"Not really."

"Exactly. So let's just sleep. No weird sounds or movements or any of that shit. Okay?"

"Fine. God, stop freaking out."

"Roy, I have a reason to freak out."

"Whatever. Let's just go to sleep." Roy said, sliding under the comforter. I sighed, doing the same and facing the wall. If Roy didn't kill me then this mission surely was. I knew that for a fact.


	6. February Twelfth

**Chapter 6:** **February Twelfth**

It was two days till Valentine's Day and I still had yet to find out anything about Kathryn and Lilac in means of a secret relationship. All night long I had imagined different endings to the mission Roy and I were on. From Kathryn or Lilac admitting to doing something explicit to someone dying because of a stupid mistake I might've made. Either way, I totally forgot about it once I realized what was going on in the real world.

Waking up, I squirmed a little, moving around slowly and waking up my body slightly more than it had been. That's when I noticed Roy's arm around me. Honestly, I knew that it was a simple mistake and it was just his self-conscious telling him that there was someone else in the bed. But I didn't react that way. Jumping out of bed, and luckily not waking Roy up and scampered away, getting dressed quickly and rechecking the clock to see that it was only seven in the morning. But even at that time, Lilac was fully awake and making coffee.

Exiting the bedroom, I noted Lilac's figure in the corner of the kitchen. Smiling and walking up to her I spoke hoarsely. "Good morning. When did you wake up?"

"Oh, hi. About an hour ago. No big deal though. I usually wake up around five, so six is like sleeping in."

"Same here. Except I usually get up at four and seven is like way off. But its new territory, new house, new feel."

"And the fact that it's almost Valentine's Day." Lilac hinted and winked. I smiled and sighed.

"Yeah. Not so much." I said, sitting down at the bar area and leaning forward, my elbows pressing into the granite or marble counter. She squinted her eyes, giving me a confused look.

"Are you two in a fight or something? What's going on?" God help me. She could not be asking me that. Why...

"Uh, no, not exactly..." I mumbled, searching the room for new ideas. I had been in some very awkward conversations, especially with Roy, but this was a new level of awkward. Trust me on that.

"Is it my presence?" She asked, sighing and giving me a sad smile. "I new I shouldn't have asked you guys. I mean, your relationship is so much more important than my need for a room in a five star hotel. I mean, I could've easily gotten a room in a four and a half star hotel, but sometimes I'm just so stubborn..."

"No, no, no. You're fine. Believe me. We're just... different. And with Abigail its more of a... non-physical relationship, I guess."

"Why didn't you tell me before? I would've done everything different!" Lilac's eyes lit up and I sorta feared what she was about to say next. "Why don't you two spend some time today to do... well, that, and I'll take Abigail to the store. I know she's really young for the whole mall experience, but don't worry about a thing. We're only going to go to the store that sells baby furniture and toys and all the things that she needs this weekend."

"That's not necessary..." I said, attempting to pry her away from what I knew she was planning on doing. It was an innocent act, of course, but being alone with Roy and not being able to leave the room without him (because seriously, if I was right and Kathryn was there, she'd be spilling everything to Lilac like a spoon with a bunch of holes in it - and with no filters) was, and always has, been a huge pain in the ass.

"Of course it is! Honey, you and Clayton need to spend some time together. And I don't mean dinner or a movie or some class that you take together because the pamphlet tells you that you two will be so much closer after it. Never trust those things, believe me. They usually only mean physically closer, and you're room is always way too far away from where you take that class. But back to the point, just take some time off. Don't worry either. Abigail will be just fine. Now wake up your fiancé while I cook something up. And yes, to answer your question, I do know how to cook, I won't burn the building down, and I do want to cook for you. Its my hobby, now go get his ass out of bed."

* * *

"Roy." I whispered, not wanting Lilac, who I kinda feared was the stalking/eavesdropping type, to hear me. Roy didn't budge and I rolled my eyes. "Harper." I tried, hoping that I wouldn't have to punch him in the face to wake him up, though I was pretty doubtful. I sighed and placed a hand on his arm, hoping for some reaction out of him. It took a few seconds, and a few shakes for him to jolt up and become fully awake.

"What the hell!" He whispered, evidentially remembering that Lilac was in the hotel room. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"If I was trying to kill you, I wouldn't be waking you up from a long and restful sleep. Anyway, Lilac's making breakfast and we get almost the whole day to ourselves seeing that she's taking Abigail out."

"Why is she doing that?" Roy asked, stretching and standing up. I sighed.

"You don't want to know."

* * *

"I can't find any evidence saying that Kathryn is here, let alone has left her own house." I said, staring at the computer screen. Lilac had left nearly an hour before I had worked up the courage to open up all the blinds and sit on the balcony with my laptop. I crossed my legs as Roy pulled another chair next to me and sat down. My fingers typed vigorously as I pulled up multiple recordings of nearby street cameras.

"Maybe Kathryn isn't involved with this. Maybe she and Lilac are innocent. Well, in this case anyway." Roy spoke, his eyes moving back and forth from me to my computer screen. I sighed and shook my head.

"No. That doesn't make any sense. Kathryn knew what her husband was building and she sure as hell knew what he was going to do with it."

"What does Lilac have to do with it, then?"

"Lilac has everything to do with it. Think of it this way. Brian, Kathryn's husband, is a high-tech genius who has designed more than half of the country's nuclear weapons. He makes a brand new nuclear weapon and doesn't release it to the government."

Roy laughs and leans back in the chair. "Come on, Sarah. Think about it. If you made up some awesome weapon which you knew would be better than the rest you built, wouldn't you want to thrive off of it for a little bit?"

"That's not what he wanted to do though. Brian found out that Kathryn was having an affair. And affair with someone he knew and trusted."

"Which you believe to be Lilac."

"No. I know it's Lilac. Brian had full proof knowledge of this affair. And how he got it, you ask? Jax."

"What does Jax have to do with any of this? Come on, Sarah, please tell me you aren't suspecting the poor innocent kid to be in the middle of this."

"Three weeks before his death, which is nearly a week after Batman got intel of the nuclear weapon, Jax was absent from school almost two weeks straight. During that time, records and receipts show that he bought sixteen cameras, two pairs of binoculars, a surround sound system, and a recorder. No one suspected a thing seeing that he was supposed to have been doing a project in film class on the study of molecular engineering."

"So what? He was paid to film his mom having an affair with her best friend?"

"Sort of. He was paid, but not in money... In girls."

"So you're telling me that a sixteen year old boy's father is paying him to spy on his mother by giving him a bunch of prostitutes?"

"Basically. And yet the horror still goes on."

"What do you mean?" I took a deep breath and looked over at Roy.

"Well, you know the whole destroying the government thing Brian's planning on doing? Well, there's a catch to it. Lilac works for the government."

"You're kidding, right?" I shook my head.

"She's part of the people who manage social security numbers and all that shit. Nobody but her, Kathryn, Brian, and the people she works for knows it. Well, with the exception of us, now."

"So Brian's getting revenge on not only his wife, but on the bitch she slept with? God, this world can be so fucked up at times."

"No kidding. But the worse part is that he's planning on bombing D.C. in two days."

"You mean Valentine's Day. Well, if he's hoping for an ironic statement, that's one way to go."

"Yeah. And with that I'm going to need to get out of here. And I only have two ideas on how to."

"And what would those be, exactly?"

"Well, the first option would be Rhea being called to defend some criminal at the capital, and the second would be you going down to the lobby, me jumping off the balcony, someone taking me to the hospital and me stealing an ambulance. The first one would be easier, but the second is a whole hell of a lot more fun."

"Let's go with the first one. A lot less work on both of our ends."

"Fine. Screw all the fun out of our mission." I said sarcastically.

"Haha. Yeah, but in the end it will limit the amount of times you'll be going to a hospital and staying there."

* * *

By nightfall, I was already in D.C. Don't ask me how I did it, because to be honest, I don't think that anyone would _really _want to know all the details. I had no luggage, which made it easier seeing that I didn't have a hotel room, so I felt free to roam the city. Well, technically, I wouldn't be roaming the city, I'd be searching for any tiny details giving me clues to where to find Brian.

I had thought all about the two different sides of the story throughout the trip and I felt as if Roy was leaning more towards Kathryn's side. But I was split. I mean being who I was, I could see the innocent and guilty side of both of them.

Brian was naturally a good guy. I mean his slate was clean and people liked him - well, before the incident that is. But learning that his wife was cheating on him, and cheating on someone who was not the same gender as he, was like taking a mallet to his heart. So I could totally understand why he felt the way he felt. But nuking the capital because of it, now that was out of line.

Kathryn on the other hand was different. I could imagine multiple reasons as to why she decided to cheat on her husband in the first place. Love. Desperation. Need. Boredom. I understood that. But what bothered me was that she still hadn't told anyone. Her husband knew, but she never brought up the subject, never told him why she did what she did, or what was going wrong with their marriage.

I didn't know which side to take, and I wasn't going to take either side until I knew for certain what was really going on.

It was eleven o'clock and most of the stores around the city were closing, with a few exceptions like twenty-four-seven bakeries and coffee shops and stores which were practically dedicated to all the government workers. I was walking a street that was empty. It was unusual for the city being so big and busy and to be honest, was sort of creepy.

That's where it all started. I never understood how I got into these situations or how the hell I even managed to not hear the people behind me, but before I knew it, I had a gun aimed at my head, a cloth drizzled in chemicals suffocating my lungs from clean air, and a dark, dreary voice telling me something that I didn't understand. My eyes drooped and soon closed, letting my mind drift off and my consciousness disappear. As I had said, that was only the beginning. And believe me, it wasn't going to get better soon.


	7. February Thirteenth

**Chapter 7: February Thirteenth**

All I could think about when I woke up was how the hell my head hurt so bad. I mean, I knew for a fact that I hadn't gone drinking the night before, since after all, I had no actual, logical reason to, but at the same time no one ever suspects anything normal out of me.

As I came back into reality, I heard things. And no, I wasn't being delusional and hearing my name being called over and over again by unrecognizable voices in the back of my head, if that was what you were asking. I was hearing Brian. Literally. Brian.

"Let me take a guess..." He mumbled, his voice dark and almost creepy if I hadn't looked up at him. I nearly laughed. The dark, creepy voice belonged to no other than some scrawny boy with puppy dog eyes and ears too big for his head. Brian saw my smile and rose a thick, dark brown eyebrow. "What?"

"Oh, its nothing..." I said innocently, starting to regret _not _laughing. I mean, come on. I had beating people up since I was nearly five years old. Let's just say that I wasn't part of a very happy and loving family. "I just expected... someone else. Oh, who am I kidding, I just never expected that Kathryn would fall in love with someone as scrawny and dork-looking as you."

"How the hell do you know my wife?" His mood changed from sudden fear to hard, threatening tones. He obviously wasn't joking around and I could tell from the worry and love in his voice that he was nowhere near forgiving the bitch she slept with.

"Really? As if you don't already know the whole damn story, Brian." With my comment, he threw aside the crowbar I hadn't seen him holding. Thank God for my adorable act of bitchyness. Pulling on the thin strings that connected him with morals and humanity was practically a death warrant, and I wasn't exactly ready to die just yet.

"Rhea. Kathryn had told me about you. She got pissed off when I said that you and your so called fiancé were suspicious as hell." I rose my brow and he rolled his eyes. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. You weren't even married and yet there was no sexual tension leaping off of you two."

"Great." I said sarcastically. He pulled up a chair and sat in front of me, though nearly six feet away. Raising his eyebrows and squinting his eyes he spoke.

"So. Government agent?" He asked, crossing his arms with a cold glare. I laughed.

"Really? Do I look like I work for the government?" His expression didn't change and I rolled my eyes. "No, I don't work for the government. Private investor. Don't ask me who it is because I have no clue who. I only took the job with my partner."

For a moment, his expression didn't change, which meant that he didn't believe me. But after a moment of thinking, hard thinking I would presume, his tensed up face relaxed.

"Private investor? Who the hell would hire someone to take me down? What the hell did I do?" He asked the air. His voice made him seem innocent, which made me believe that he had truly been on something the whole time he made the damn bomb. His teeth clenched and he squeezed his eyes shut, groaning and falling to the floor as he clutched his head. Moments later he was fine and I stared blankly, frozen in the state I had been left in, at him.

"What the hell is going on? Who the hell are you?"

"Uh... Brian?" I asked. I felt as confused as he looked, but obviously slightly less scared.

"How the hell do you know my name? And why the hell are you tied up?"

"Uh, you remember me as Rhea, remember? And the whole rope and weird ass... room we're in was your idea."

"What the hell do you mean?" His eyes spoke fear more than anything else and I was starting to feel scared myself. I swallowed.

"You don't remember..." I muttered, him not hearing me clearly. My heart was starting to race at the idea of Brian not know what was going on. "What do you last remember?"

"Uh... It's blurry, but I remember my wife. We went out to dinner last night and after we went back to the cabin that we were staying at in Quebec. We bought tickets to this tour thing up at the Great Lakes and we were having a great time."

"Brian, that wasn't last night. That was almost two months ago."

"What do you mean? It was just Christmas!"

"It's February. The thirteenth to be exact."

"What?"

"You mean I've been out for two months?"

"Uh, not exactly?"

"What do you mean 'not exactly?'"

"Untie me."

"What?"

"Just do it." Reluctantly, he stood up, his eyes never leaving my face as he walked behind me, untying the knots behind my torso, ankles, and wrists. The thick ropes fell the floor and relief struck my bones as I stood up and rubbed my wrists. For such a tiny man, he was pretty damn strong. Or at least whoever had been controlling him was.

"Come on," I said, motioning towards the door. "Let's go. I'll explain everything on the way."

"On the way? Where are we going?" I looked back, my hand on the doorknob and smiled.

"The Kentucky Horse Derby."

* * *

"What!?" Brian yelled from the passenger's seat once I told him what had happened. I knew that he wasn't going to take it well, the information about his wife cheating on him with a woman, let alone her best friend, but I had no idea that he'd take it that well. To be honest, I felt a little sad. I was desperate to do something in the expensive car I had stolen, whether it be pounding the breaks to avoid crashing into a curb or a potential house, swerving illegally around unmoving cars, or plain out stopping in the middle of the road because of someone's scream.

"God, dramatic, much?" I asked sarcastically. Brian's face was frozen in shock as he stared out the tinted glass in front of him. I rolled my eyes, putting my hand in front of his face and snapping multiple times. "Hello? Anyone alive in there?"

"So she cheated on me?" Brian said, still dazed with disbelief. He blinked multiple times, ignoring my frequent harsh stops at lights and stomps on the gas pedal. What? I hadn't driven a car as high-tech as that in a while. Or ever.

"Uh, yeah. I know. I was shocked too. But all's fair in love and war, right?" I smiled half-heartedly, glancing back and forth at him and the road. He scowled, glaring at me with his deep brown eyes.

"This is no time to make jokes, Rhea. I messed up, my son's dead, my wife cheated on me with her best friend, I created a nuclear bomb that could practically destroy this whole hemisphere, and I almost took down my own government. You know the worst part? I have no recollection of this ever happening to me."

"Okay, first off, my name's not Rhea. Second, I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but none of this is your fault." I said, sighing. I wasn't totally against Brian and I was completely for Kaitlyn, but either way, I didn't seem to have the gut to face Roy again if I had agreed with Brian and had truly said that it was all his fault.

"What the hell do you mean? I'm guilty as charged! It was my own body after all!" Brian retorted. I sighed again, wishing that I wasn't about to have this conversation, but per usual, I was about to.

"Okay, listen closely. I'm not usually a very nice person, so this is pretty hard to say, even though it's the complete truth, but you are not guilty. You're perfectly innocent. It wasn't you making those decisions over the past two months it was... something other. Something that I've never seen or heard of. Something, unfortunately... supernatural."

"That doesn't make any sense. Supernatural things don't exist." He crossed his arms and squinted his eyes slightly. Rolling my own, I glanced over at him and then back at the road.

"Ever heard of the Justice League? The Injustice League? Heroes? Villains? Half of those people can fly for God sakes. The Martians can read people's minds, Superman can shoot lasers out of his eyes. And you still don't believe in supernatural things?" I was more pissed off that I was shocked. I had met people like that all my life, people who didn't believe the inevitable, and didn't trust their own eyes.

"It's all fake. Everything. Special affects, mostly. I've seen it a hundred times." He spoke, staring out the window. I sighed.

"Oh my God... You know what, don't believe your eyes, but don't come running to me when you find out how dangerous this world really is and how much every supernatural power placed on this earth affects the way we live life and how much safety we can gain from it."

Brian rolled his eyes and I couldn't help but sigh. This was going to be a long ride.

* * *

It took nearly an hour to finally get back to the hotel. From having to blind fold Brian to pushing him into the zeta tubes with me as I hacked my way through the security system, the hour seemed to go by slower than I had intended.

Sneaking up to the hotel room, I pushed Brian in, making sure no one had seen me - a lawyer who was not only supposed to be getting engaged, but also had a child with her lover she was about to marry - enter a hotel room with another guy.

Closing the door behind, I sighed, taking my eyes of Brian, who looked more scared than a pig being tied up in a slaughtering house. I looked in the living room and saw no sign of Roy. Abigail was in the nursery - thank God - but Roy wasn't there either. He was practically missing, until I stepped into the master bedroom.

I practically stopped at the door when I saw Roy staring at me, eyes glared. But he wasn't staring at me, and the longer I just looked at him - tied to the chair in nothing but his boxers and a piece of duct tape covering his mouth, the more chance I had of being the next one over there.

I turned around to see what - or who most likely - Roy was staring at and ducked, just in time for Lilac's arm to go swinging right on top of my head. It took me seconds to respond, throwing her back into the wall and accidentally knocking her out - which really had been an accident seeing that I was only using my skills for self-protection, not to put someone in an unconscious state.

"Shit." I muttered, looking away from Lilac and back to Roy, who was still tied to the chair. I practically rushed to him, ripping off the duct tape from his mouth and watching as he winced and took a deep breath - one that he had evidentially been dying to get.

"Where the hell have you been?" He asked, his voice cracking as I untied the rope binding him to the chair.

"Thanks. Good to see you too." I said sarcastically, cutting the rest of the rope that tied his hands together with my pocket knife I had hidden in the side of my bra. "I was in D.C., doing the work we were supposed to do together. Thanks for the help, by the way."

"Oh, don't be sarcastic. I was busy anyway with that bitch you let stay in the apartment. She's a nightmare, you know." I rolled my eyes, walking to the bathroom to get a washrag for a deep cut I noticed on his torso.

"Yeah, I bet it was _terrible _playing strip poker with a former model. God, Roy, you really need to stop hitting on lesbians. At some point in time they're going to make an embarrassing petition against you." I thought back to the time Roy and I had an undercover dinner and Roy had hit on the waitress, who said out loud, at the end of our meal that she wasn't interested in him and that she was lesbian. Not only had she made me laugh at Roy for his idiocy, but also made me a little conscious of the little black dress I was wearing when she glanced toward me with a hint of lust in her eyes.

"Be serious, Sarah. This isn't funny. I almost died back..." His voice faded as I was preparing the washcloth. A sudden pain hit the back of my head and I flinched pulling away violently and staring at Roy who now had blood on his fingers.

"What the hell!" I yelled, placing a hand protectively over the tormented area. Roy looked at me, his facial expression looking more worried by the minute.

"Sarah...you're bleeding..." He said, as if I were to faint at any moment. I rolled my eyes, setting the washcloth aside and running my now bloodied hand under the facet, letting the warm water rinse it off. "Sarah? Did you hear me? I said you're bleeding!" The pain hit my head again and I flinched, attempting to push Roy away. My plan failed as Roy hit the wall softly, his arms reaching and his hands grasping my wrists tightly as he pulled them away, making me uncover the bloodied spot that marked the exact place Brian - or whoever it had been - had hit me in a last - and succeeding - attempt to knock me unconscious after drugging me.

"Stop it!" I said, yanking my wrists out of his grip and backing up, turning off the facet and staring at the pinkish-red water in the sink.

"What the hell happened?" Roy asked. I ignored him, busying myself by draining the sink and turning the water back on to warm the washcloth back up. "What the hell happened, Sarah?" He repeated, and I ignored him once more. He was getting pissed off, and I could hear it in his voice. "Sarah, what the hell happened in D.C.?" He practically yelled, his body inches away from me.

"Am I interrupting anything...?" A voice asked. Brian.

"Who the hell are you?" Roy freaked, eyes wide as he turned around and practically covered me protectively, even if he was in fact the one without most clothes on. Brian cringed and backed up, evidentially noticing Roy's thick muscles an obvious strength. I rolled my eyes.

"Roy!" I yelled, as Roy got closer to Brian, ready to beat him for hopefully the sake of our identities and mission. He stopped and backed up, looking at me with caution, but keeping his eyes on Brian carefully.

"This is Brian. Kathryn's husband. And no, he isn't planning on destroying the government." I added the last part when Roy opened his mouth.

"How the hell do you know that?" He asked, voice dark and threatening, which was meant for Brian more than me.

"It's... complicated, but I have a feeling that he was possessed."

"You're kidding right? Can you not tell that he's faking it?" I had been too caught up with the fact that my head was pounding and my dignity had been shot down the drain to even consider that fact. Could he have been. "You're kidding right? Please tell me that the possibility did not slip your mind."

"My head hurts okay! I'm human, not a fucking machine!"

"No shit your head hurts! You're fucking bleeding for Gods sake! Why the hell didn't you call me?" I didn't look up Roy, I just stared in the sink as it refilled.

"We're not engaged Roy. We're not close, and you know for a fact that what we do for a living is dangerous. We have to split up at times. D.C. was mine, Kentucky was yours."

"Sarah! No one gives a damn about Kentucky. I could've cared less. We're partners in this. We can't leave each other like that and expect that everything will be fine."

"You had to stay here. If you didn't Lila and Kathryn would've been more than suspicious, if they already hadn't."

"I could've cared less about them!" Roy sudden stopped, his breathing was labored and he calmed himself down, remembering that Brian was just outside the door staring at us, eyes wide, like we were more than insane and unstable. "We're going to talk about this later," He spoke, slipping on a robe and motioning Brian to get out of the bedroom. Roy looked back at me before shutting and locking the bathroom door. He turned back to me and sighed, turning off the sink and ringing out the washcloth.

I closed my eyes, attempting to not let Roy see the forming tears in my eyes. I was getting emotional. Who wouldn't when they realized that they practically jeopardized the mission by almost getting killed and not telling anyone involved in the mission?

I felt Roy's hand on the middle of my back and he pushed me lightly, guiding me to sit on the edge of the tub for a better and more accessible view of my injured self.

"Open you're eyes." I heard Roy speak softly. For some reason, I felt obliged to listen, therefore I did. I stared at his blue eyes and I could feel him looking at more than just my eyes. He gave me a warm smile, one that spoke apologies and sadness and guilt and pain, which confused me more than the kindness he was showing at that moment.

"Look, it's bad enough knowing that you've saved my life multiple times and you have yet to be rewarded for it. You've spent your time training and training for these type of missions and what you get in return is a job teaching a bunch of teens the same thing that you've done for the past, I imagine, nine years, but also going on missions with someone closer to your age and rank. And yet, you have to save his ass every time, and not to mention get drastically hurt every damn time you do. I can't imagine what I'd do if you died on one of these missions. I don't know what I'd do knowing that if it weren't for my idiocy and evidentially terrible skills, you would almost be guaranteed life. I wouldn't be able to handle that, and I know it. So, please, and I'm begging you, let me help. When you're in trouble, let me help you. If you don't, I might just end up hating myself for the rest of my life if something terrible happens to you. Please."

I looked away, nodding silently as I closed my eyes. Another tear ran down my cheek and I winced as I felt the semi-warm rag hit my back of my head and lightly rub against it, picking up the wet and dry blood on my scalp. Minutes later, Roy was done, his inspection finding nothing but a new scab being covered in my blonde hair. Stepping out of the bathroom, Roy ordered me to sit down on the bed as he walked out into the living room, rummaging through whatever he had in there and coming back with a small, white pill. I rose my brow.

"What is this?" I asked weakly, my throat dry and voice hoarse.

"Uh, pain pill. To help with the headache." He answered. Picking up the glass of water, I popped the pill into my mouth, swallowing it down with almost three fourths of the drink. Roy smiled.

"Why don't you rest for a little bit. I'm going to check on Abigail." Roy left and moment later, I laid my head on the pillow, suddenly becoming tired and drowsy. My eyes shut and I began to sleep.

He lied.

It was a sleeping pill.

* * *

By the time I woke up it was almost six at night. Noon was when I had gotten back from D.C. earlier that day. I had slept for almost five hours.

I sat up and rubbed my head, glad that when I looked at my hand there was no red dripping from it. I was up in no time, walking into the living room to see Roy sitting on the couch with Abigail in his lap as he watched her sleep peacefully.

"You know, I am really starting to hate you." I spoke, sitting next to him on the couch as I looked at Abigail. For living with such crazy people at that moment she could sleep like it was nothing. And she didn't need a sleeping pill to do it.

"Now you hate me. You know, you should really thank me. It's a pain in the ass to shop for pills for you when you're practically immune to every drug on earth."

"I'm not immune to any drug. I just have a high tolerance to... some."

"Whatever. You'll thank me later, though."

"And why the hell would I do that? You drugged me. Why would I thank you for drugging me?"

"Because you needed some sleep. Not just light sleeping, a real deep rest. You look better now that you have, by the way. The bags under your eyes are a lot lighter than they were."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically. "Just what I wanted to here from a guy I'm pretending to be engaged to."

"My pleasure." It was quiet and I watched as Roy smiled at the sleeping Abigail.

"I can't imagine what's going to happen when Abigail is taken back. You're going to break." I spoke softly. Roy looked at me.

"Why do you say that?"

"Obvious reasons." I said. Roy rose a brow. "You want one, don't you?"

"What? No. I have no idea what the hell you're talking about." Though he denied it completely, I could tell from the love in his eyes when he looked at Abigail that he wanted children, even if it wasn't right now.

"Bullshit." I smiled and Roy rolled his eyes, his attention going back to the baby sleeping in his arms.

"What did you do to Lilac and Brian?" I suddenly said after a pregnant pause in our conversation.

"What?" He asked, probably not wanting to talk about it.

"I know you did something. The sleeping pill... you wouldn't give me such a strong dose for just merely dark circles under my eyes. You needed me to not notice what you did with the two - most likely - unconscious bodies in this hotel room."

"You don't want to know." He said simply, his attention, once again, going back to Abigail.

"Roy, just tell me." Roy stared at me, his eyes not leaving mine for a moment as if to see if I was telling the truth. I was.

"Fine. I knocked Brian out, spilled a little whiskey on them both and made a scene. Tomorrow morning they'll wake up in the county jail, charged with so many things they're heads will spin."

"What if-"

"Sarah, they're both guilty. Brian was going to take out a government facility, and Lilac, her whole divorce shit, that was lie. Her husband was found dead in her home right before we left. Her fingerprints were everywhere. They're right where they should be. Or at least in a month they will when they're transferred to a remote prison in the middle of New Mexico."

"I don't know what's gotten into me lately. I guess I.. I guess I just don't want to be the bad guy anymore, sending people to jail and prison because of something they did."

"That's being the good guy, Sarah. And don't worry. We all feel that way at times."

Roy was wrong. I wasn't the good guy, and I never would. But he wouldn't understand. None of them would. And it was only a matter of time before they actually found out the truth of my horrid ancestry.

* * *

"You okay?" Roy asked as he stared at me from the other side of the bed. I stared at the wall, my back facing him like it had two nights ago. I didn't answer. "I can go sleep on the couch, if that's what you want..."

"No." I spoke quietly, my voice barely a whisper. "Stay." It didn't feel awkward anymore, with Roy sleeping in the same bed as me, even though we had only done that once. But his presence made me feel...awkwardly safe and I was in need of that that night, seeing all the hell I was put through all day.

Roy slipped into the opposite side of the bed and it was quiet, until I rolled over to face him and show him the tears sliding off my face.

"I fucked up." I said simply. Roy stared at me. "I fucked up and almost got killed. What the hell is Batman going to say about that? I'm supposed to be teaching these teens how to fight, how to survive, and I end up almost getting killed in one of the easiest missions I've ever had in my entire life? What's he going to say? I'm a failure. I can't hide it."

"Everybody makes mistakes-"

"I don't qualify for everybody. My mistakes can either get me killed, or someone around me killed."

"Sarah, I get-"

"You get how I feel? No, Roy. You don't get it. Of course, you might understand what it's like to skip a step when unlocking a door or waiting to long to turn off an alarm, but this is life. I'm supposed to be responsible for eight teenagers, nine if you count you. Every single damn mission, somebody's screwed up, and somebody's paid the price. I've done enough damage to those teens than Dinah will hold me accountable for. And now I have to come back and say that I almost got myself killed because I couldn't seem to understand the clues that were right in my face the hole time? That these people are lunatics and they know who I am and they want me dead before I ruin their chances of having a happy life. I don't think I can do this anymore, Roy. The pressure of knowing that I'm a danger to everyone in the Team is too much. I'm an accident waiting to happen."

"Sarah, you are not an accident waiting to happen. Yes we've all had our moments, and yes maybe we've all screwed up and been close to dying, but that's not your fault. You've been here for barely two months and taught us more than Dinah can possibly imagine. We've seen you go through hell on these missions, sacrificing yourself for hostages, taking out the people putting knives at our throats, killing some bastard who shot Wally in the leg that one time. You've done too much for us, and you deserve to be credited for it. You're not dangerous, you're not a burden. You're not anything like that. You're our hero. Our role model. Our teacher. You can't leave. You leave, we all go down."

"But-"

"No. It's true. Without you, we'd probably all be dead."

"I-"

"Are you going to keep contradicting me?"

"Roy-"

"There you go again, denying the fact that I'm right, and you're wrong. Do I really have to stop you every time? 'Cause I only know one way of doing that."

"You don't understand. I'm-"

Roy's lips met mine briefly, our lips barely grazing before I completely shut up. My eyes were closed, and the heat from Roy's lips fell away, making my eyes open again in what I couldn't believe to be desperation. I could see Roy smile.

"Told you. I only have one way of shutting a woman up. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the rest, since after all, Valentine's Day is supposed to be our last day of the mission. And our last day as an engaged couple."

Roy turned off the light, leaving me staring in the darkness with my eyes wide and lips tingling. My breath was hitched in my throat as I faced my back towards Roy again, and placed my head on the pillow. Somehow tomorrow couldn't come any slower. That is until I finally found asleep - right when I felt Roy's arm wrap around my waist.


	8. February Fourteenth

**Chapter 7: February Fourteenth**

There were two things on my mind. One was that I didn't want to get out of bed. Ever. The other was that unless I got my ass up out of bed - and got myself out of Roy's lazy, yet strong grip - Abigail was never going to stop crying.

I pushed Roy's arm off of me and slid out of the bed, the cold air of the room hitting me and making me wish I could just climb back underneath the covers and soak in the heat of my fake fiance. Throwing on a robe to cover my bare arms and maybe to help warm me back up.

I opened the door quietly, hoping not to wake Roy up as I jogged to the room Abigail was in. Maybe it was just my embarrassment that drove me to not wanting to see Roy at that moment. Awake, at least.

Abigail was in my arms in no time and her screaming and crying began to soften as I rocked her. It took her a few minutes to calm down, but when she did, I made my way to the kitchen to warm up a bottle and proceeded to the living room where I sat down calmly with Abigail in my arms.

"I didn't expect you of all people to be so good with children..." I heard a deep voice say. I jumped, only momentarily becoming startled before turning to look at Roy as he came to sit next to me on the couch.

"I'm not. Only when everyone else is busy do I look to be good with them." Roy laughed.

"Is it appropriate if I call that bullshit?" I could see him smirk from the corner of my eye, but said nothing as I stared at Abigail, who was still downing the mix in the bottle.

"You look tired. It _is _three o'clock in the morning. You should go get some more sleep. I can take care of Abi..."

"I'm fine," I lied, tired as hell, but not wanting to have Roy take everything away from me. It was a confusing reason, I knew that, but it was the truth. Not like I'd actually go out of my way to tell him and all that shit.

"Sarah..."

"I'm fine." I said a little more sternly this time. I could see him nod from the corner of my eyes, the moonlight from the window lighting up his features enough for me to make out the motion without having to look straight at him. Seconds went by and he reluctantly left the room, only to come straight back with a blanket, which he draped onto my shoulders before sliding his hands down to my elbows.

"You're cold..." He said and I kept my gaze on the baby in my arms as she continued to down the content of the bottle. I was too tired to say anything else, or even do my signature rolling of the eyes or dark glare. Roy must have seen this as he leaned back into the couch and wrapped an arm around me before moving in closer. If I hadn't been so tired and so cold, I would've done so many things to punish him for touching me. But as I let my head fall into his chest and let the warmth of his body warm me, I lost all care to do so.

Moments later, the bottle was empty and Abigail, cradled in my arms, was asleep. Reluctantly, I moved away from Roy, only to have him jump up and stop me from doing any more work. He took Abigail back to her room and put her to bed, only to come back out and, despite my ability to still walk, carry my back into bed and wrap his arms around me. I relaxed in his hold, letting my limbs go weak as he nuzzled into the crook of my neck.

And to think. In only a few hours - when we got up and left, giving Abigail back to her rightful family and going back to our normal lives - I'd be the only one to remember this experience, to remember the kindness (and love) that Roy showed me and how I had gotten a chance to be normal, even if it was only in a bed in a hotel with Roy. For after we got back, his mind would be erased, and all memory of me would be destroyed. At least until we met again.


	9. Thank You

**Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry for the inconvenience, finishing this short story up very late in the year. I hope you can forgive me for my busy life and forgetfulness! I'll most likely be publishing some more shorts for Runaways soon, most likely a Christmas one, because, well, it's that time of year, of course! So, again, sorry for the late finish and look out for the intended Christmas short! **

**~ Claire Blanc**

**A quick thank you to all of you who have reviewed, followed, and favorited ****Be My Valentine**** (in no specific order):**

**Agent California 2258**

**TurtleLynn **

**Gabriel is busted**

**Reader103**

**Regin**

**cnavarro27**

**evelyn0ramirez **

**footballplayer19**

**lek99**

**sjmcaliece **

**You all are amazing! :)**


End file.
